Taking a taxi to and from the office every day has been a bit of a pain, which I've dubbed the "Taxi Ride of Terror". In addition to the life-threatening traffic manoeuvres and lack of seatbelts, the drivers can't seem to figure out where the office is...they usually have to stop several times to consult the badly photocopied map that I'd been given, or ask directions from one of the ubiquitous, official-looking men in uniform who guard apartment complexes and banks. Maybe they're just trying to pump up the fare by keeping the meter running, but it only costs around $2.50 each way, even with the constant stops, so I don't really care. In any case, I've been practicing how to say "Turn right/left" and "Straight ahead" in Mandarin so I can tell the driver how to find the office, that seemed to help with my trip this morning.

I tried walking back to the hotel on Monday afternoon, it took 45 minutes and I was catcalled constantly with cries of "Helllloooooo" like I was some sort of exotic parrot being offered a cracker if I responded correctly. When I finally got back to the hotel, I was totally drenched with sweat, had a huge blister on my heel, and my shoulder was sore from toting my bulky flaptop. I won't be doing that again!

My evenings have been mostly devoid of any major sightseeing or cultural excursions, although a couple of my students got together with me at my hotel for dinner at a Korean restaurant. We had the usual assortment of pickled veg and kimchi to start with, followed by braised shortribs cooked on a hot plate in the middle of the table. We also had a "Korean pizza" which was actually a huge omelette chock full of oysters, crab, and scallions. Finally, we were served a mixture of rice, eggs, and more seafood in a sizzling stone pot. The waitresses stirred the eggs into the mixture until it turned into a sort of fried rice. It was delicious. They gave us fresh fruit and a sweet, cold soup with puffy fried rice kernels in it for dessert. The entire meal only cost about $40 for the 3 of us.

I'd like to see the Peking Opera or an acrobatics show before I leave, but the concierge at my hotel won't book it for me, and told me that I have to take a cab to another hotel in order to arrange it with their concierge. I don't know if it's worth that much hassle.

And on a final note, when I went to breakfast this morning the restaurant was full of ugly Americans wearing dirty t-shirts, wrinkled khakis, and Tevas sandals (both with and without socks). I suspect that they're all scientists who're here for the nanotechnology conference I mentioned previously. The hotel conference area is plastered with presentation posters that say, "Experiments With Self-arranging Quantum Dots" and "Production Methods of Carbon Monofilament Nanotube Fibers". Mah brains hurt just readin' them thar words.